New Sri Lanka Book Review This just in from Shweta Singh, Assistant Professor at the South Asian University, Delhi: For those of you interested in the politics of Sri Lanka, here is my take on Mark Salter’s book ‘To End A Civil War: Norway’s Peace Engagement with Sri Lanka’ in the Asian Studies Review! To end a civil war; Norway’s peace engagement in Sri Lanka by Mark Salter, London, C. Hurst & Co. Ltd., 2015, 531 pp., £25.00 (paperback) Mark Salter’s To End a Civil War; Norway’s Peace Engagement in Sri Lanka brings to the fore the “story of the… More

 Should Aung San Suu Kyi keep her Nobel peace prize? Strong argument from the UK Guardian columnist George Monbiot for a move that would definitely prove anathema among many both in Myanmar and abroad. Strip Aung San Suu Kyi  of her Nobel Prize on account of her signal failure to take a stand against the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar today. And even worse, as some see it, her implicit endorsement of Buddhist nationalist anti-Rohingya prejudices and alleged complicity in the crimes against humanity being visited on hapless Rohingya civilians. Aung San Suu Kyi: ‘It is hard to think… More

The Secret History of the Banking Crisis Riveting, accessible account of the 2008 financial crisis and the hush-hush ‘swapline’ system between the US Fed and a select coterie of European central banks put in place to contain it (remains with us today). Will Trump get round to disrupting it? And just as importantly, will it ever become the subject of politcal, ideally democratic scrutiny and discussion? Published in the August 2017 edition of Prospect. The secret history of the banking crisis Accounts of the financial crisis leave out the story of the secretive deals between banks that kept the show… More

Canada’s approach to immigration: how (and why) it works Good, balanced analysis of Canada’s approach to immigration – and the lessons it holds for Brexit Britian (and indeed other EU countries) – the September issue of Prospect. As one of the Canadian experts citex argues with reference to the fact that without increased immigration, the UK will age rapidly: “You are going to wake up with unbelievable problems. If you don’t have a strategy around this, your social programmes—education, health—are going to collapse. Through our immigration system we’re solving our economy in 2030 and beyond. You need to think long-term…. More

Here’s a brilliant piece from veteran writer and commentator Neal Ascherson on the age-old problématique of Anglo-Scottish relations. Required pre-election reading both north and south of the border. Scotland: Normal nation, neurotic neighbour The Union has been in decline for decades. The root problem is not turbulent Scots, it is a very English failure to develop a healthy nationalism south of the border by Neal Ascherson / April 7, 2017 Published in May 2017 issue of Prospect Magazine “As the quarrel between Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon grows ruder… it’s time to think about nationalism” ©ANDREW MILLIGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES  I was… More

Pachyderm Paradise Here’s the venerable decorated elephant – tusker as it’s known locally – fronting the procession at this year’s Navam Perahera festival in Colombo. Organized by the Gangaramaya Temple, a local landmark, and held during the February poya (full moon), the event always draws a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd.

‘In The Cage, Trying To Get Out’ Imagno/Getty Images Herschel Grynszpan at his first interrogation, one day after he shot the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath at the German embassy in Paris, November 8, 1938 Here is another typically engaging and informative review by historian Timothy Schneider from the pages of The New York Review of Books, this time looking a new set of books broadly looking at Jewish life in Europe during the 1930s as communities across the continent struggled to come to terms with the threat  posed by the rise of Hitler and a Nazi Germany. I learned… More

Cuba: the paradox of US foreign policy Here is a convincing recent thinkpiece from Isabel Hilton, published in Prospect, on the paradoxical role implacable US opposition to Fidel Castro played in helping consolidate and later prop up his dictatorial regime. “Mishandling the developing world nationalism that was such a pervasive phenomenon of the post-war world was one of the significant errors of US foreign policy. Washington viewed such movements exclusively through the distorting lens of superpower rivalry, casting Moscow as the arch manipulator of every local and regional movement that manifested antipathy to the United States or its interests. It… More

Gdansk: open to migration and diversity Here’s a short video about an excellent initiative recently launched by a long-standing favourite city of mine. Niech zyie Gdańsk!        

Sri Lanka: The Nation In Question   Here is my latest piece, a review of some recent books about Sri Lanka published in the Ceylon Today newspaper. Mark Salter, 29/12/2017 2016 has been a good year for books about Sri Lanka. (Interest disclaimer: Hurst, the publishers in focus here, released my book on the country last year) First up was A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka by Commodore Ajith Boyagoda, as told to Sunila Galappatti, a writer and former Director of the Galle Literary Festival. As befits a prisoner of war memoir A Long Watch is… More